Part I

Question 1

Question:    Where does the brook begin?

Answer:    Place frequented by coots and herns.

Question 2

Question:    Which is the last place to be visited by the brook?

Answer:    Philip's farm is the last place to be visited by the brook.

Question 3

Question:    When is the brook specially noisy?

Answer:    When it flows over stones.

Question 4

Question:    What are the two things the brook is always doing?

Answer:    Moving and making sounds are the two things the brook is always doing.

Question 5

Question:    Name some things that float down all streams (Use your imagination).

Answer:    Flowers, leaves, twigs, insects, fishes.

Question 6

Question:    Why is the water described as silvery?

Answer:    The sun shines on the water making it sparkle like white silver.

Question 7

Question:    Why is gravel said to be golden?

Answer:    It is yellow and brown in colour.

Question 8

Question:    Read the extracts given below and answer the Questions that follow

I come from haunts of coot and tern,
I make a sudden sally,
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.

a) What is the birth place of the Brook?

b) How does the Brook emerge after its birth?

c) Why does it 'bicker down a valley'?

Answer:    a)The birth place of the Brook is actually the haunt of water birds like the coot and the tern.

b)The Brook gushes out in a sudden sally after its birth.

c) It (the Brook) seems to bicker down a valley because it flows down a hilly terrain. When the water flows over such a terrain, it creates a lot of noise. This noise is described as 'bicker'.

Question 9

Question:    By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or ship between the ridges
By twenty thropes, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.

a) How does the Brook seem to move?

b) What are the things that the Brook passes by before it joins the brimming river?

Answer:    a) The Brook seems to move very hurriedly by hills and seems to slip between the ridges as it flows.

b) It passes hills, thropes, a little town, several bridges and Philip's farm before it joins the brimming river.

Question 10

Question:    I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles.

a) How does the brook flow on a stony path?

b) What is the figure of speech used in the last two lines?

Answer:    a) The Brook creates a chattering sound when it flows on a stony path.

b) The poet has used alliteration with the use of the consonant sound 'b'. This produces a musical sound effect.